Thursday, March 26, 2009

Be There or be square


Next weekend is the 1st race of the year for us folks here in the NW, are you going? have you been training at all? I know I haven't!!! but I will be there regardless

Monday, March 16, 2009

Real Old School DH


this is my rig from '97, I raced for Dirtworks that year and this was the build. The zzyzzx forks (pronouced zie zix) looked impressive but were the biggest piece of shit you have ever ridden. I had to put those big boots on the stanchions because the first race I did on this at Plattekill they completely locked up. You see when the seals got wet they caused a pnuematic lockout of the fork because of the pressure that built up inside the huge legs. the brilliant fix was drilling holes in the bottom of the forks so air and water could escape. I worked on these forks all the time because they were always breaking down. Jan Karpiel made some sweet wet bath seals for them that helped out a lot but they still sucked big time. I remember that I could have bought a Marzocchi bomber fork with 4 inches of travel that would have been better than the Zzyzzx fork with 6 inches of travel. The bike on the other hand was awesome it was light and stiff and I wish I had that frame still because it would be an awesome trail bike today with it's 5 inches of travel. (BTW the alligator on the bars was the DH mascot! I had that thing on my bike from '91 to '98 when finally decided to retire the guy, he was broken and fixed so many times that his squeker didn't work anymore!) The build went like this

Dirt Works Monster Frame 5" of travel with a Fox Vanilla shock

Bullit bros Zzyzzx fork 6" of shitty travel

crappy red stem

Club Roost bars with cross bar

Magura HS33 brakes, blue

Curve cranks

Shimano 105 rear derailluer with Bullitbros tensioner

Ringle fron hub with Rhyno rim

Hugi rear hub with Rhynolite rim

I still have those wheels!!

Shimano 646 pedals (the best clipless pedal ever until the Crankbros mallet and Acids)

oury grips

IRC Missle Tires( some of the best ever)

Friday, March 13, 2009

Knappa Trails and bicycle destruction!






went riding at the Knappa trails a few weeks back and had a great time. Eric Loney did an amazing job on the trails along with some other great trail builders. I would have taken some sweet riding shots but half way down my 4th run I had total carnage! took a turn a little wide and an angry stick jumped out and attacked my bike. the ensueing carnage was 1 destroyed XO derailleur, 1 deastroyed 991 cassette, 1 destroyed hollow pin chain, 5 broken spokes! all in all a fun day followed by an expensive mishap.